Africa Deal Roundup: 15 noteworthy deals and announcements in December

AgDevCo closed a multi-million USD debt investment in Goldenlay, the market leader in table eggs in Zambia.

This article is published in association with Africa Private Equity News, a one-stop source for industry-related information. Stay up to date by downloading the free Africa Private Equity News app: Android | iOS | Scan QR code from desktop. Subscribe to the monthly newsletter here.

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A selection of private equity deal, fundraising and exit announcements that came across our desk in December 2019.

DEALS

The Agri-Business Capital Fund, managed by Bamboo Capital Partners, in partnership with Injaro Investments, has invested in a cocoa cooperative based in Côte d’Ivoire – Socak Katana. Located in the North Western Region of Côte d’Ivoire, Socak Katana procures raw cocoa from its members before processing, transporting, storing and selling the cocoa beans to local and international buyers.

Rensource, a company that provides energy and tech-enabled value services, announced the completion of a $20 million equity financing round. The round was co-led by existing investors CRE Venture Capital and the Omidyar Network, with participation from Inspired Evolution, Proparco, EDPR, I&P, Sin Capital and Yuzura Honda. The funds will be used to expand the company’s footprint of micro utilities across Nigeria, as well as invest in additional technology infrastructure, as it rolls out new tech-enabled products and services for its merchants.

The SEAF Morocco Growth Fund has completed its fourth investment with its acquisition of a stake in SOWIT, a company utilising artificial intelligence and machine learning to implement precision agriculture in Africa.

DOB Equity, a Dutch family-backed impact investor in East Africa, has invested in Natural Extracts Industries (NEI), an integrated natural vanilla flavour manufacturer, based in Moshi, Tanzania. NEI sources green vanilla pods from farmers and manufactures them into unique premium quality vanilla products.

AFEX Commodities Exchange Limited, a commodities exchange in Nigeria, has secured an investment for an undisclosed amount from Consonance Investment Managers, a sub-Saharan Africa focused early-stage and growth investment firm.

US-based private equity firm Housatonic Partners has submitted an offer to acquire South African company Metrofile. Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed Metrofile is a records and information management specialist. Among other services, Metrofile safeguards and stores companies’ physical records and information. The company services clients of all sizes and sectors across South Africa, Botswana, Kenya, Mozambique, Zambia and the Middle East.

UK-based impact investor AgDevCo closed a multi-million USD debt investment in Goldenlay, the market leader in table eggs in Zambia. Established in 2005, Goldenlay has a fully automated production facility and includes backward integration into irrigated and dryland cropping. It supplies an affordable source of protein to millions of Zambian consumers, with a focus on distribution to low-income households through informal markets.

PepsiCo, one of the world’s biggest food and beverage companies, has joined investment firm Veris as a major shareholder in Senselet Food Processing Plc in Ethiopia. Veris will continue to maintain a minority interest in Senselet and partner with PepsiCo to further grow the business and develop potato sourcing programmes in Ethiopia.

FUNDRAISING

Verod Capital Management has closed its third fund, Verod Capital Growth Fund III, at a $200 million hard cap. Similar to Verod Fund II, which had commitments of $115 million, the investment strategy for Verod Fund III is to focus on small and medium scale enterprises in anglophone West Africa.

Dutch development finance institution FMO has approved a $15 million investment in the Metier Sustainable Capital Fund II, a private equity fund investing in clean energy generating assets and resource efficiency projects and businesses across Africa. The fund is managed by Metier and is expected to reach first close in 2019.

The African Development Bank has signed off on a $30 million equity investment in African Development Partners III, a third-generation pan-African private equity fund targeting established and growing companies with an emphasis on those benefiting from Africa’s growing middle class.

Shell Foundation, a UK-registered charity, together with FMO, announced the launch of the $120 million Energy Entrepreneurs Growth Fund, with an initial close of $45 million, providing catalytic financing to early to growth-stage companies in sub-Saharan Africa operating in the access to energy ecosystem. Triple Jump, an Amsterdam based impact-focused investment manager, will act as portfolio manager and Persistent, a Zurich based venture and private equity firm with expertise in the off-grid sector, will serve as investment advisor to the fund.

Apis Partners LLP has announced the final close of Apis Growth Fund II at its increased hard-cap of $550 million. The fund expects to make equity investments of between $30 million and $50 million, with a focus on capital light financial services and financial technology companies across the growth markets of Africa, South Asia and South East Asia.

FMO has indicated it is considering a $10 million investment in fund manager XSML’s third fund, African Rivers Fund III. XSML was founded by two former FMO employees, Jarl Heijstee and Marcel Posthuma, and today manages two private equity funds in Central Africa: the Central Africa SME Fund (CASF) and African Rivers Fund I (ARF I). Both CASF and ARF I are high-impact funds that provide scarce capital to SMEs in frontier markets, and FMO has invested in both.

EXITS

Dutch headquartered impact investor Oikocredit has exited its investment in Zambian fish farm Yalelo Limited. Oikocredit has been invested in Yalelo since 2014, supporting its growth from under 2,000 tonnes of annual tilapia production in 2014 to 12,000 tonnes of annual production currently.

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This article is published in association with Africa Private Equity News, a one-stop source for industry-related information. Stay up to date by downloading the free Africa Private Equity News app: Android | iOS | Scan QR code from desktop. Subscribe to the monthly newsletter here.